Oxford Textbook of the Newborn A Cultural and Medical History

Well into the 20th century, one in four newborns failed to survive their first year of life. It was after World War II that medicine "discovered" the newborn as a human being entitled to medical treatment and prioritised care. Since its definition by Alexander Schaffer in 1960, neonatology has evolved into a mature, innovative, and ethical field. A large number of medical professionals' care for neonates, yet no definitive medical history of the newborn has been available until now.

The Oxford Textbook of the Newborn: A Cultural and Medical History offers readers a unique and authoritative resource on the 3000-year history of the newborn within Western societies. Written by Professor Michael Obladen, a leading voice in neonatology, this book reflects on our perception of newborns, from the earliest days of human thought, through to the traces that remained in medieval life and persist today. It unearths ideas and evidence of societies' perceptions of newborns through a beautifully illustrated, impressive and often never-seen-before set of historical sources from libraries, archives, churches, excavation fields, and hospital charts around the world.

Split into 8 sections which each cover aspects of the natural lifecycle of a neonate, this book demonstrates the impact of religion, law, ethics, philosophy and culture on newborns' quality of life, and covers fascinating topics such as the rites of passage for the newborn, infanticide, opium use, breastfeeding, and artificial feeding. Each chapter is written in an accessible style and includes high-quality historical illustrations which really bring the subject to life.

Michael Obladen, Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Neonatology, Charit? University Medicine, Berlin, Germany

Part One: Early Life
1.1. Animatio: Ideas about the Beginning of Personhood
1.2. Hepar Uterinum: Ideas about Fetal Nutrition
1.3. Pulmo Uterinus: Ideas about Fetal Respiration
Part Two: Birth
2.1. From Apparent Death to Birth Asphyxia
2.2. Resuscitation 1: Artificial Ventilation
2.3. Resuscitation 2: Oxygen and other Drugs
2.4. Resuscitation 3: Endotracheal Intubation
2.5. Umbilical Cord and Umbilical Care
2.6. Postverta, Agrippa and Cesarea: Born Feet-First
2.7. Social Birth: Rites of Passage for the Newborn
Part Three: Prematurity
3.1. Measures of Viability
3.2. Surviving Against the Odds
3.3. Respiratory Distress: Understanding Surfactant Deficiency
3.4. Holding Breath: The Development of Surfactant Substitution
3.5. Anatomy and Spontaneous Closure of the Ductus Arteriosus
3.6. Persisting Patency of the Ductus Arteriosus in the Preterm Infant
3.7. Intraventricular Hemorrhage
Part Four: Multiple Birth
4.1. Unwelcome: The Abominable Twins
4.2. Fertility and Fatality: Higher-order Multiples
4.3. Unequal but Monozygotic: Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome
4.4. From Monster to Reversed Perfusion: Acardiac Twins
Part Five: Odd Shape
5.1. Cats, Frogs and Snakes: Concepts of Neural Tube Defects
5.2. In God's Image ? Infant Head Shaping
5.3. Lame from Birth: Concepts of Cerebral Palsy
5.4. Possessed by Evil Spirits: Seizures in Infancy
5.5. Birthmark and Blemish: The Doctrine of Maternal Imagination
5.6. Cast Aside: Infants with Down's Syndrome
5.7. Crooked Limbs: The Thalidomide Catastrophe.
5.8. A Wretched Condition: Cleft Urinary Bladder
Part Six: Breast is Best
6.1. Bad Milk: Medical Doctrines that Impeded Breastfeeding
6.2. Regulated Wet-Nursing: Managed Care or Organized Crime?
6.3. Guttus, Tiralatte and T?terelle: Breast Pumps
6.4. Pap, Gruel, and Panada: Early Approaches to Artificial Feeding
6.5. Milk Demystified by Chemistry
6.6. From Swill Milk to Certified Milk: Progress in Cow's Milk Quality
6.7. Technical Innovations that Enabled Artificial Infant Feeding
6.8. Selling Safety: Commercial Production of Infant Formula
6.9. Feeding the Feeble: Steps towards Nourishing Preterm Infants
6.10. Much Ado about Nothing: Controversies on Tongue-tie
6.11. Lethal Lullabies: Opium Use in Infants
Part Seven: Disease
7.1. Innocent Blood: Hemorrhagic Disease of the Newborn
7.2. Yellow Brains and Blue lights: Neonatal Jaundice
7.3. Weak Giants: Infants of Diabetic Mothers
7.4. Filth, Impurity, and Threat: Meconium
7.5. Necrotizing Enterocolitis: 150 years of Fruitless Search for the Cause
7.6. Better Baby Bones: Attacking Rickets and Scurvy
7.7. Curse on Two Generations: Congenital Syphilis
7.8. Thrush: Nightmare of the Foundling Hospitals
7.9. Systemic Infection: Sepsis
Part Eight: Early Death
8.1. From Right to Sin: Laws on Infanticide in Antiquity
8.2. From Sin to Crime: Laws on Infanticide in the Middle Ages
8.3. From Crime to Disease: Laws on Infanticide in the Modern Era
8.4. Despising the Weak: Long Shadows of Infant Murder in Nazi Germany
8.5. Cot Death: An Iatrogenic Disaster
8.6. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven: Infant Mortality Statistics
8.7. For Whom no Bell Tolled: History of Infant Burials
8.8. Revived for Paradise: Respite Sanctuaries
Appendix